TableTop Episode 14: Pandemic
October 5, 2012 by dracs
Today on TableTop the fate of the world lies in the hands of Wil Wheaton, along with his crew of healers, Morgan Webb, Ed Brubaker and Robert Gifford, as they seek to end all illness in Pandemic. We're all gunna die!
Pandemic can be seen as being similar to many of the Cthulhu style board games out there in that it too is a cooperative board game, where players take on the roles of various members of a team, each with special abilities, and work together to overcome an inevitable doom! Unlike the Cthulhu games, Pandemic sees you trying to contain and cure a number of diseases to prevent them from becoming a global pandemic, rather than a horrifying cosmic being. If anything, the disease is even scarier.
The game can be played at a number of different difficulty levels, while also becoming increasingly difficult the longer it progresses. As disease spreads and illness runs amok, can Wil and co. save humanity in time?
I was doubtful about the concept, but now I want to buy it !
Looks a super game.
Great episode of Tabletop.
I’m really liking the trend lately of cooperative board games. One of the problems with many really enjoyable board games is that they’re ruthlessly competitive, and while that’s fine for me and many others, a lot of people are looking for a less competitive social experience in their games. These games offer the problem-solving complexity of some of the most enjoyable board games without also carrying with them the urge to stab your friend in the face after they screw you out the one resource you needed to win the whole game (again!). I think games like this will really… Read more »
Yes… And any narrative-heavy boardgame with proper fantasy/sci-fi/lovecraftian themes is also very much a potential entrance into such “universes”.
SO many boardgames are just about resource management without much narration !
There’s such variety, and such great games… And to think many people still only know Monopoly, Scrabble, Clue and The Game of Life !
damn that tabel looks uncomfortable to play on, especially for the people sitting left and right 😛
They were crazy going for this on Legendary! Pandemic is one of the hardest co-op games out there, but at least they had fun! They should play Forbidden Island as well. It follows the same collecting and ‘saving’ mechanics from Pandemic but is a bit more kid friendly I guess?
A good episode this!
BoW Ben
Actually, Pandemic is not (by far) the hardest co-op out there, but it has just the right amount of difficulty. That said, it is, in my opinion, the best co-op game, being thematic, accessible, and low AI maintenance. Some other board games boast better AI, but require more time on the players’ side to follow the instructions of the AI.
Try Ghost Stories or Death Angel for your dose of masochism.
Death Angel is far easier than Pandemic lol. I’ve played both games and we’ve at least won in Death Angel! We have won a few times in Pandemic by having the right mix of ‘characters’ and of course playing on the ‘normal’ difficulty setting. Legendary though is just crazy heh.
Death Angel might not be a bad one to see on Tabletop actually, although you have to wonder if Games Workshop would let them play it 🙁
BoW Ben
Others rave about it and I can see why its just that I found Pandemic impossible at first and thought of selling it, then after about the 4th go we cracked it…we found we rarely lost, after that and got bored of it. It got sold and I dont miss it, in fact Im finding co op games vs the board don’t seem to float my boat.
Interesting…
How did you manage to crack the game ? It looks like no strategy will be a sure win…
I’d be very interested in that.
There also was an expansion called “on the brink” (if memory serves), that adds a secret bad guy among the players spreading the diseases. Have you tried it ?
I cant fully recall now as Ive played far to many games since getting rid of it.
If I remember correctly we didn’t worry so much about rushing the curing the nasties…we ensured that outbreaks would be minimized. We took the fly to cities dude and the cure nasties dude as well plus someone else.
No sure win for sure, rather it went from impossible to mostly winning. The expansion may have made me think about keeping the game but I’m finding that most co op games don’t work for me. Ironically I do like Fire Rescue having said all that
gack…ohhh for an edit button
That one guy is like a bald Ben Affleck. That was creepy.
I don’t see it.
Also, I love this game. Very easy to get non-gamers to play it. I haven’t tried the expansion yet (or are there two now?)